Fe Boltzmann temperature lidar: design, error analysis, and initial results at the North and South Poles
- 20 July 2002
- journal article
- Published by Optica Publishing Group in Applied Optics
- Vol. 41 (21), 4400-4410
- https://doi.org/10.1364/ao.41.004400
Abstract
The design, development, and first measurements of a novel mesospheric temperature lidar are described. The lidar technique employs mesospheric Fe as a fluorescence tracer and relies on the temperature dependence of the population difference of two closely spaced Fe transitions. The principal advantage of this technique is that robust solid-state broadband laser source(s) can be used that enables the lidar to be deployed at remote locations and aboard research aircraft. We describe the system design and present a detailed analysis of the measurement errors. Correlative temperature observations, made with the Colorado State University Na lidar at Fort Collins, Colorado, are also discussed. Last, we present the initial range-resolved temperature measurements in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere over both the North and the South Poles obtained with this system.This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit:
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